School cafeteria

[32bit-RedMage]

I'm writing a story that takes palce in the U.S., and some scenes take place in a school cafeteria.
The problem is ... that I don't know exactly how american school cafeterias operate.
I know what they look like and such ... but I have some questions.

-Do they serve breakfasts ?
-Do ALL kids eat breakfast there or do some have breakfast at home ?
-Is the food free ?
-If not.. how much does it cost?
-Are the kids allowed to bring lunch from home ?
-What kinds of food do they serve.
-Is the food really horrible ??
-Are there any differences between elementary school and middle school cafeterias ???

Please help!

[Bard The 5th LW]

I'll give my answers. I went to a Catholic School, so my answers will probably differ from the answers of someone who went to a puplic school however.

- No.
- Eat breakfast at home. Although the High School served Breakfast.
- No
- Usually between $1.50 $2.
- Yes
- Pizza, hot dogs, burgers, spaghetti. Pretty variable. Sides are usually some kind of fruit, some vegetbles, and one or two varying sides. Potatoes, corn, cookies, and biscuits were fairly common to as sides.
- Depends on what they serve. Usually its at least good enough to keep down, but occasionally can be pretty disgusting. Its all healthy, i can assert that.
- At my school, we all used the same cafeteria, we just had different lunch schedules. For example, the 4th graders would usually have lunch the latest, at about 12:30, and the seventh graders would usually have it the earliest at 11. Two grades would also eat at once. 7th and 8th ate together, 5th and 6th ate together, 4th and 3rd ate together. The High School had them separated by years, you know: Freshmen, Junior, Senior.

Hope this was helpful. It might also be beneficial to hear it from someone who went to a Public School.

[synkr0nized]

Oh wow it's been years for me. I can offer you what I remember, but chances are things have changed from when I went to schools that had a cafeteria. My cafeteria experiences were in public school (and the private school I did go to for a few years had no cafeteria).

- Breakfast was served, though not at every school. For example, my elementary school had breakfast, but my high school did not. The former was in the city and not the suburbs, however, and easier for some of the students to get there early enough.

- Even if breakfast was served, not everyone ate there (or even ate breakfast). I suspect it depended on travel time/distance from the school, the family's preferences, and perhaps economic status.

- No.

- I don't recall this exactly. I normally brought a lunch, but you could pay a fee to get on the meal/lunch plan and get a lunch every day or whatever -- got a card or pass for it. If you just got a lunch now and again, like I did, you paid something like a dollar or dollar and fifty cents (I suspect those prices are not current at all now).

- Yup! Brown-bags, lunch pails, plastic bags, you name it.

- Oh boy. Uh. Generally poor quality from what I remember, but *shrug* probably no worse than fast food places. Burgers, chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, pastas, beef and gravy, and apples are things I remember, but I'm sure the menus have more to it. I wasn't a regular buyer, as I stated, so I hope others can be a better resource.

- Yes, the food wasn't really much to write home about. Not only was it cheaper to pack a lunch, I usually preferred it. (chicken tenders are amazing, though)

- Other than the mentality of those there and the different layouts of the schools, I am not really sure if there are any differences among them. Oh, and our schools are often separate for elementary, middle, and high school. But some private schools and religious-based schools have a lot more grades and might be more hectic with shuffling little kids in and out before the big ones come in, etc. Perhaps you could give an idea of what you mean? The food sure seems the same, but again this is from memories that are old and might not be accurate...


Ha ha oh man. This takes me back.

[Tev]

Oh, I'll play this nostalgia game! Ah, I can remember it now.....*wavy fade-out*

-Do they serve breakfasts ?
Some of the poorer elementary schools in my town did, mostly to ensure that the lower income children we getting at least two meals a day in. There were no breakfasts at the Jr. High and High School levels.

-Do ALL kids eat breakfast there or do some have breakfast at home ?
I didn't attend one of the schools that served breakfast growing up but I'd imagine their participation rate in the high 70% range.

-Is the food free ?
Not really. Parents bought a meal plan for Elementary age children and
kids at the Jr. High and High School levels were pretty much expected to buy their own lunches unless they were on a low-income food plan.

-If not.. how much does it cost?
In Jr. High my parents gave me $10 a week to spend on lunch. In High School a student could easily get by on that though there were more options and greater menu variety so it could be more expensive if your eyes and wallet were bigger than your stomach.

-Are the kids allowed to bring lunch from home?
Yeah, and it's always been pretty acceptable. More than one friendship or rivalry has been spawned over lunchroom negotiations over food trades.

-What kinds of food do they serve.
School food here in America pretty much on a weekly menu system. There will usually always be a pizza day, a burrito day, and some form of chicken day interspersed with a random vegetable and two other meals. At the Jr. High and High School levels there is infinitely more variety. At my High School in particular we had the standard cafeteria line as well as a snack-bar type place that served more grilled food and a specialized food cart that served some daily special. Granted either of the last two options generally cost more. This site has all kinds of school lunch menus if you need some examples.

-Is the food really horrible??
Not really. It was about as bad as any food from a B-grade cafeteria or buffet style restaurant.

-Are there any differences between elementary school and middle school cafeterias??? Middle School and High School cafeterias tend to be larger and always in a state of flux. Since all the kids from the surrounding town are coalescing in on location, the lunch hour is usually staggered to allow for about a third to a half of the school's population to be using the lunch room at the same time. This means every twenty minutes or so some kids are heading back to class while a new group is filing in. At that time friends are re-adjusting, moving to new tables, milling around, stuff like that. If the school has more lax rules about keeping students in the lunch room during the lunch hour, you may see students wandering the halls or leaving the lunch line with food to go meet up with their friends in their chosen hang-out spot.


Anyway, hope that helps. That's pretty much what I remember of my school carrier in middle America.

[Premmy]

-Do they serve breakfasts ?
Every School I've been in served breakfast
-Do ALL kids eat breakfast there or do some have breakfast at home ?
pretty much a 50/50, 60/40 split some did, some didn't.
-Is the food free ?
No, If you were poor enough( I was) you could get on the free lunch program, which you had to set up the year before. There was also a discounted lunch program. They tagged your school ID and they would scan it at the register at the end of the lunchline.
-If not.. how much does it cost?
In the pocket change bracket, probably about 1.50-ish
-Are the kids allowed to bring lunch from home ?
yup yup yup.
-What kinds of food do they serve.
In elementary and middle school you pretty much got what tevlev said up there.

In high school there were several menus to choose from. Generally a "Home cooking" line, which for me was bad soul food with the occasional not-soul food. A "fast food" line which should be obvious, then there was usually a "same thing every damn day" line which would be one particular thing that never(or very rarely) changes, One school had a nacho line, another one I went to had pasta.

Finally, there would be a separate line which usually had snacks, drinks and name-brand food Which of course, cost more than the regular lunch. All the schools in Savannah got theirs from Papa John's Pizza
-Is the food really horrible ??
ehhhhh, it's edible, not as good as restaurant food or home-cooked but ehhhhh
-Are there any differences between elementary school and middle school cafeterias

Elementary and Middle school have less choice than high school, mostly because High-schoolers have more of their own money to spend.
Elementary and Middle schools were also more apt to serve cold (sandwiches, cereal)lunches and breakfasts than High school

[32bit-RedMage]

Bard, synkr0nized, Tev and Premonitions... thank you !
You guys are awesome!

Your info is very helpful, now I can get back to writing my crappy story

THANKS!

[phil_]

Remember the luke-warm square "pizza" with cubed "pepperoni." There should be someone who pulls off the "cheese" and "meat" and just eats that, leaving the "crust" behind. There's always that guy.

The quotation marks are there because none of those things are what they claim to be, but they are referred to by those names.

Edit: The thing in the lower right cell.

[Seil]

That looks absolutely vile.

[Tev]

Originally Posted by Seil

That looks absolutely vile.

I think you misspelled "Amazingly delicious to a nine year old."

[32bit-RedMage]

Originally Posted by phil

There should be someone who pulls off the "cheese" and "meat" and just eats that, leaving the "crust" behind. There's always that guy.

Lol, yeah! I knew someone like that....

Originally Posted by Seil

That looks absolutely vile.

It doesn't look THAT bad ...... I've eaten worse things.